now, is there a value to kicking the can down the road in avoiding the fiscal cliff? yes. but if they go over the cliff and then fix it in the next week with another stopgap, is there any real harm? who knows. if that make it is easier for republicans to vote for it, is it a disaster? probably not. but understand we had seven weeks in which we could have a done a big deal which would have gotten the debt under control, would have caused the economy to -- it would have been a catalyst to have this economy take off, and we blew it. we blew it. >> you know, governor dean, to that point here we are essentially looking over the abyss of the fiscal cliff, and i know you have said in the past let's just go over the cliff and start from scratch. do you still think that's the way to go? >> i do. actually, i hope they never come to a deal because this is the best deficit reduction package the democrats are ever going to get. but let's look at what really is going to happen here. i would be more surprised if they came to a deal in the next five days than i was by the roberts vote on